Monday, June 04, 2007

Fermentation buckets: pros and cons

The India Pale Ale is fermenting happily in one of the new fermentation buckets. Since the buckets hold 32 liters there is quite a bit of head space in there, so I do not have to worry too much about the fermentation overflowing.

After having tried one of these fermentation buckets I have found a few things that are good and bad about them:

Pros:

Easier to clean as one can reach into them by opening the lid. One has to be a little careful so that it does not pick up any scratches. A soft non-scratching cloth is needed.

The bucket has a flat top which means that one can stack them on top of each other saving a little space while fermenting. On the other hand this also means that the cat can sleep there.

The stackability is even more useful when storing them between use. Four buckets take up just as little space as one of them do.

Cons:

A bucket does not fit very well in my kegerator. The old fermentation tanks was just a little wider that a cornelius keg, so I could fit one of them in the fridge with three cornelius kegs. Not so with the new fermentation buckets. From what I can gather there is not room for any kegs together with a bucket. I'll have to try and find one of the old type, so that I can ferment my lagers in it.

It is harder to oxygenate the wort as one cannot vigorously shake the bucket. With the old tanks I could just close them with a lid and shake hell out of them. Pouring the wort from the siphon from a height did seem to work nicely, but it is not perfect. I'll have to look into getting hold of an aquarium pump and an oxygenation stone.